Tangent, Pt. 9

I am completely enamored with the planetoid/gravity-based design of Super Mario Galaxy. Just take a look at this GDC 2007 trailer and see if you feel the same way. Isn't that wild? And it looks fantastic, too, with a style that's unique to the series but still immediately recognizable. Between this and the bizarre 2D-to-3D reality warping of Super Paper Mario, it seems like the midget plumber is having one of his most creative, inventive years in ages.

It sure beats getting another bajillion Mario sports titles and party games, that's for sure. (Although we'll undoubtedly still be getting those, too!)

Have a nice weekend, everybody!

Sam Logan

Mar 7, 2007

Lost and Found

A number of you have dropped me a line to tell me that the most recent episode of Lost briefly featured a decomposed head referred to as "Roger". Was this a reference to everyone's favourite gaggling noggin'? Man, I wish! (In other words, probably not.) Still, it was a kind of funny coincidence!

I posted my first entry ever over at the Dayfree Press art blog today. Check it out if you would like to see the first piece of finished Sonic the Hedgehog artwork I've drawn in about two years!

The show itself is highly experimental, with rapidly changing artstyles and completely bizarre surrealist humour. But as strange as it is, it's not random. There's a method to the show's madness -- a completely realized-and-resolved plot and a coming-of-age theme that ties all the crazy together in a way that makes sense. Eventually. If you think about it really hard. And it's backed by some truly amazing and stylistically varied animation. You'd be hard-pressed to find a modern-day cartoon with more visual ingenuity and greater technical mastery than this one.

The show can be kind of confusing -- especially when it uses puns or cultural references that steadfastly refuse to translate into English intelligibly. But it's still a great watch that any animation fan should check out... even if they don't like anime. At the very least, you'll probably enjoy the incredible all-Pillows soundtrack.